11.13.2017

George Takei Accused of Sexual Assault

In stunning news for the Asian American community, beloved community activist and Star Trek star George Takei has been accused of sexually assaulting former male model and commercial actor Scott R. Brunton in a 1981 incident.

Brunton told The Hollywood Reporter yesterday that he had met Takei when Brunton was 23, and that Takei had invited Brunton to his condo after a night of dinner and theatre. There, Brunton says that Takei gave him a drink that made him feel dizzy, and that he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, Brunton says he found Takei in the process of undressing him and groping him. Brunton told Takei that he did not want the sexual contact, pushed Takei off of him, and left.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Brunton had told four friends of the encounter several years ago.

"Men who improperly harass or assault do not do so because they are gay or straight -- that is a deflection," said Takei in a statement last week about Spacey. Brunton says that he felt Takei's words were hypocritical given his own encounter with Takei, and that this motivated him to speak out.

Takei responded to the charges this morning on Twitter in a series of tweets denying the allegations.

Friends,

I'm writing to respond to the accusations made by Scott R. Bruton. I want to assure you all that I am as shocked and bewildered at these claims as you must feel reading them. /1

Right now it is a he said / he said situation, over alleged events nearly 40 years ago. But those that know me understand that non-consensual acts are so antithetical to my values and my practices, the very idea that someone would accuse me of this is quite personally painful. /4

Brad, who is 100 percent beside me on this, as my life partner of more than 30 years and now my husband, stands fully by my side. I cannot tell you how vital it has been to have his unwavering support and love in these difficult times. /5

Takei is a leading voice for Asian American progressives, and there is inevitable temptation to disbelieve the accusations against him. However, sexual assault victims rarely report their attacks because they do not believe they will be believed and they do not think their attackers will be held criminally accountable, and this high rate of sexual assault underreporting vastly compounds the problem. Thus, we should a priori treat the stories of all sexual assault survivors as though they are at least credible — no matter how much we might admire those who stand accused. To borrow Takei's phrasing, this is indeed a case of "he said / he said"; but that doesn't necessarily mean that we should immediately discount what Brunton says.

On the other hand, writers have already suggested that the accusation against Takei are weak, and may even be a coordinated effort to discredit the emerging allegations of sexual assault against other Hollywood insiders. Already, conservative voices are reveling in the accusations against Takei, who was one of the more prominent Hollywood voices against Trump over the last year. Karen Wehrstein writes in the Daily Kos that the fact that Takei has only one accuser, and that the story was rapidly picked up by conservatives and known Rightwing troll accounts renders Brunton's account suspect.

Nonetheless, if true, the context of the allegations against Takei are particularly troubling. Sexual assault rates are particularly high within both the Asian American community (and in particular against Asian American women) and the LGBT community; yet, if Brunton's story is true, Takei drugged and sexually assaulted the younger man. Beyond the criminal elements of that story, Brunton's account against the larger backdrop of the revelations about Hollywood demonstrate that rape culture is pervasive in and endemic to Hollywood, and that the industry needs massive investigation and reform to protect vulnerable young actors.

Either way, the accusations against Takei should also remind us to be wary of placing too much emphasis on the pursuit of celebrity activists. We should not subscribe to a "Great Man Theory" of Asian American political liberation; heroes inevitably disappoint. Instead, we must embrace our own power to bring about the change we wish to see in the world.